Typewriting machine



Aug. 7, 1928.

1,679,726 A. G. F. KUROWSKI TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed May 29, 1925 If venIor-fpaw/M1;

y Arm-n Patented Aug. 7, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED G. F. KUROWSKI, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 10 UNDERWOOD ELLIOTT FISHER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

TYIEWRITING MACHINE.

Application filed Mlay 29,

.This invention relates to machines for typing address-,stencil-cards, and particularly to means for holding the stencil-cards in machines of the classwherein the card is presented to the printing point on the platen and is progressively raised step by step by 'means of a frame to linespace the same. Such a machine is disclosed in the patent to Elliott, No. 1,878,771, dated May 17 1921.

In such machines, the top of the card is clipped by jaws provided upon said frame. An object of this invention is to carry the card down to a lower point than is practicable where such jaws areemployed.

To this end the card is inserted in a framingor pocket, designed to deflect the card and to present it to the printing point in front of the platen.

The card-receiving frame comprises sideguides connected by a cross-piece which serves as a support or rest for the bottom edge of the card. The card is laterally located and squared against the bottom support and is held in place by means of front fingers. extending upwardly from the bottom cross-piece.

Another feature of this invention relates to means whereby cards of different widths may be handled with the same card-holding device, and to this end there is provided a supporting member fast to arms which are rockably mounted at the rear, of the platen and are raised to line-space the card. The supporting member is provided with upturned edges between which the wider cards.

are placed. In order to accommodate narrower cards in the same card-holder, there are provided filling blocks or spacers which are secured to the supporting member at the sides thereof.

Another feature relates to the manner of constructing the card-holder which enables it to be made of comparatively thin material and at the same time effectively deflect and. hold the card. 'The supporting member comprises a frame designed 'to fit thesido and bottom edges of the card and is bent'at the bottom forming a pocket or rest for the bottom edge of the card. In order to closely hold the card against the platen, the cardholder is provided with a front frame which may be an upwardly extending portion of the rear frame. Because of the comparatively thin material of the card-holder there is provided a spring effective to press upon I ing-blocks.

1925. Serial No. 33.621.

the upper frame so that it will bear heavily upon the lower frame, and thus efiectivelv grip and deflect the card. v Other features and advantages will heremafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a side view in elevation of the stencil device as applied to an Underwood standard typewriting machine.

Figure 2 is a front view in elevation of the card-holding frame and the platen of the machine.

Figure 3 is a perspectiveview of the cardholding frame, showing the, filling-blocks both in their effective and ineffective positions.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional View through the line 44 of Figure 2.

F igure 5 is a perspective view of the fill- A stencil-card, consisting of apaper-frame 10 for keeping in a flatcondition a stencilsheet 11 mounted in said frame, is placed in a card-holding frame 12 to be presented to the printing point over a platen 13, to be struck by type-bars 14. It is sometimes deenable to write with the ribbon in printing position upon the frame of the card, and

then to withdraw the ribbon and out upon the stencil-sheet with the bare type. To this end the Underwood machine is provided with mechanism to quickly render operative or to silence the ribbon-vibrating mechanism. Said mechanism .is' fully disclosed in the patent to F. A. Cook, No. 926,050, dated June 22, 1909. I

The card-holding frame is secured by means of screws 15 to the ends of the supporting-arms 16, and includes two downwardly extending side-guides 17 forming a backing and provided with ribs 18 to laterally posit-ion the card. The two side-guides are connected by a connecting-piece .19, which piece is bent outwardlv and up forming two front card-holding fingers 20. The fingers are flared outwardly at 21 away from the side-guides at the top thereof to facilitate the insertion of the card between the guides and the fingers, the two members forming a pocket for the card which rests by itsbottom edge upon'the edge 22 of the connecting-piece 19. In order that the card holding frame may be suitable for use on existing machines having a card-pocket 23 at the end of the. supporting-arms 16, the

side-guides are provided with a forwardlyinclined tongue 2% at the top thereof adjacent the screws to facilitate the removal of the card from the frame 12.

Owing to the limited space available in the Underwood machine between the platen and the ribbon-vibrating mechanism, it IS desirable to construct the card-holding frame of very thin material, so that the card-hold ing frame may be bent radially with the shaft supporting the arms 16 and tangent to the platen, as shown in Figure 1. The card-holding frame is reinforced by the ribs 18 which stiffen the frame and slightly defleet the card inwardly to clear some of the mechanism of the machine and to provide aclearer impression of the types by eliminating shadowing of the types in the case not being printed.

The lingers 20 are ro'nforced by means of springs 26 to increase the gripping action thereof. Said springs are secured to the arms 16 by means of the screws 15 and are provided with loops 27 behind the sideguides 17 and are bent over the fingers at 28. In this manner it is possible to use comparatively thin material for the card-holding frame and at the same time effectively grip the card.

Means are provided in this invention for the selective'use of cards of different widths without replacing the card-holding frame. To this end, the card-holding frame is made wide enough to receive the wider cards be tween the ribs 18, and when it is desired to .handle narrower cards, such as the card shown in Figure 2, then there are provided tillinglocks 29 which are placed behind the springs 26 bearing against the ribs 18 of the side-guides 17. The filling-blocks 29 are provided with lugs 30 engaging with slots 31 in the ribs 18 of the side-guides 17, said lugs being effective to hold the blocks near the ribs 18 and to prevent them from being vertically displaced relatively to the frame. Offsets 21, carried by the flared portions 521 of the fingers 20, press upon the fillingblocks 23) to prevent displacement thereof. The springs 26 also press lightly upon the filling-blocks 29 and aid the offsets 21 in holding them in place.

The l ne-spacing mechanism comprises the arms 16 supported at the rear of the platen by the shaft 25 fast to the platen-frame 32. The free ends of the arms carry the cardholding frame fast thereto and are gradually raised by the action of a cam 233 rotatably mounted on a shaft 34- journaled in the arms 16. Said cam is supported by afixed roller 35 also borne by the plateirframe through a cross-shaft 36. To line-space the card, that is to say, to raise the card-holding frame one space, a finger-wheel 37 is rotated one tooth of a ratchet 38, which is arrested by a tooth of a pawl 39 mounted on one of the arms 16.

In order to facilitate the insertion of the wider cards in the card-holding frame, the ribs 18 are slightly flared out at 4,0. The blocks 29 are also provided with a cut-away portion at ii to form a chute or conductor for the cards, and are bent to conform with the radial outline of the side-guides 17.

Variations may be resorted to Within the scope of the invention, and portions of the in'iprovements may be used Without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a typewriting machine having arevoluble platen and typing instrumentahties, means for presenting a stencil-card to the printing field, said means including, in combination, a r0chabiy-mounted frame and a card-holding member borne by said frame, said card-holding member including side guiding plates having upturned edges effective to laterally locate the card, a cross-connecting piece between the guiding plates at the bottom thereof, said cross-connecting p ece serving as a rest for the bottom edge of the card, resilient finger-pieces effective to grip the card and to hold it against the guiding plates, and means effective to locate cards of a narrower'width within the cardholding member, said last-mentioned means including spacing blocks having lugs engaging with slots in the upturned edges of the side guiding plates, and means for resiliently holding the blocks in place.

2. In a typewriting machine having a revoluble platen and typing instrumentalities, means for presenting a stencil-card to the printing field, said means including, in combination, a roekably-mounted frame and a card-holding member borne by said frame.

and fast to the free end thereof, said cardholding member including downwardly-ex tending curvate strips adjacent the platen and substantially radial with the supporting shaft of the rockably-mounted frame, said strips being provided with lateral guides for the card and being connected at the bottom thereof with a cross-piece having an up turned edge effective to support the card by its bottom edge, and means for holding the card against the curvate strips, said last mentioned means including upwardly-extending'fingers form ng an integral part of the card-holding member, and resilient springs actuating upon the uppermost ends of the lingers to increase the gripping action thereof. i

r In a typcwriting machine having a revoluble platen and typing instrumentalities, means for presenting a stencil-card to the printing f eld, said means including, in combination, a rockably-mounted frame and a card-holding member borne by said frame and fast to the free end thereof, said cardholding member including doWnv'vardly-eX-' tending curvate strips adjacent the platen v the and substantially radial with the supporting shaft of the rockably-mounted frame, said strips being provided with lateral guides for the card and being connected at the bottom thereof with a cross-piece having an up-.

turned edge effective to support the card by its bottom edge, and means for holding the card against the curvate strips, said lastmentioned means including upwardly-extending fingers forming an integral part of card-holding member, and resilient springs actuating upon the uppermost ends of the fingers to increase the gripping action thereof, said springs having a double loop, one of the loops being anchored to the curvate strips at the rear thereof and the ends of the springs bearing upon the ends of the upwardl -extending fingers.

4. In a front-strike machine for typing on stencil-cards, the combination with a platen, of an overhead frame movable up and I down relatively to the platen, a card-holding frame carried pendent by said movable frame at the front of the platen and including side and bottom gages for a card, re

silient fingers adjacent each side of said card-holding frame for pressing the card against the body thereof, spacing blocks adjacent each of said fingers for gaging a narrower card, the free ends of the fingers being offset to engage the blocks, whereby to hold them to said card-holding frame,and springs engaging the free ends of said fingers to aid them in holding any of the cards to said card-holding frame, said springs also overlying the blocks and thereby assisting thefingers in holding said blocks in gaging position,

5. In a front-strike machine for typing on stencil-cards, the combination with a platen, of an overhead frame movable up and down relatively to the platen, a card-holding frame carried pendent by said movable frame at the front of the platen and including side and bottom gages for a card, resilient fingers adjacent both sides of the card-holding frame for holding said card thereto, removable spacers extending the full vertical length of the card adjacent both sides thereof, means for holding the spacers against vertical displacement, and springs overlying the spacers and pressing said fingers toward said cardholding frame, whereby to grip the card and at the same time aid in holding said spacers to said card-holding frame.

6. In a typewriting machine having a revoluble platen and typing instrumentalities,

means for removably holding a stencil-card in the printing field, including, in combination, a support and a card-holding frame mounted thereon having side-guiding plates with gaging edges effective to laterally locate the card, there being a cross-piece connecting said plates at their lower extremities to form a lower limit forv said card, and retaining fingers to hold said card against said plates, and rigid means on said frame above said retaining fingers to deflect and strip said card from said frame when said card is fed upward from said cross-piece.

' 7. In a typewriting machine having a revoluble platen and typing inst-rumentalities, means for removably holding a stencilcard in the printing field, including, in combination, a support, a card-holding frame having side-guiding plates with gaging edges effective to laterally locate the card, there being a cross-piece connecting said plates at their lower extremities to form a lower limit for said card, and retaining fingers to hold the card againstsaid plates, and a pair of integral. tongues upon the upper extremity of each of said plates, one tongue on each plate-member being secured to the aforesaid support whereby to secure said frame, and the other tongue on each plate bein inclined forwardly above said retaining fingers to form deflecting fingers for said card during the removal thereof from said frame.

8. In a typewriting machine having a revoluble platen and typing instrumentalities, means for removably holding av stencil-card in the printing field, including, in combination, a support, a card-holding frame having a pair of laterally spaced plates adjacent the platen provided with side-guiding edges ef fective to laterally locate the card, and which plates are connected at their lower extremities by across-piece and terminate at their upper extremities in a pair of tongues, the outer extreme tongue on each plate being secured to said support whereby to anchor said frame, and the inner tongue of each pair being inclined away from said support-to deflect the card from the machine during its removal from said frame, and a retaining finger adjacent each of said plates terminating below said deflecting tongues and provided with auxiliary tension-means to increase the gripping effect of said tongu on said card. a

ALFRED G. F. KUROWSKI. 

